Download Program Notes - Charlotte Symphony

Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer
Suite from Pulcinella (1922, rev. 1947)
Igor Stravinsky was born in Lomonosov, Russia, on June 17, 1882, and died in New
York on April 6, 1971. The first performance of the ballet, Pulcinella, took place at
the Opéra in Paris, France, on May 15, 1920, with Ernst Ansermet conducting.
The first performances of this work by the Charlotte Symphony took place on
February 23 & 24, 1974 with Jacques Brourman conducting at Dana Auditorium.
The third and most recent performance set took place on February 18, 20 & 23,
1997 with Janna Hymes-Bianchi conducting at various churches in Charlotte.
In the second decade of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky rose to international prominence
with a trilogy of ballets the young Russian composer wrote for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets
Russes—The Firebird (1910), Pétrouchka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Each
succeeding ballet was marked by increased rhythmic complexity and dissonance. In fact,
the often barbaric music of The Rite of Spring so shocked some of those in attendance at
the May 29, 1913 premiere, fistfights broke out in the Paris Champs-Elysées Theater.
Stravinsky’s first collaboration with Diaghilev after World War I created a stir once
again, but for a quite different reason. In the spring of 1919, Diaghilev suggested
Stravinsky consider writing music for a ballet concerning the amorous escapades of the
fictional harlequin, Pulcinella. The music would be based upon works by the 18thcentury Italian composer, Giovanni Pergolesi (1710-1736), whose music Stravinsky
“liked and admired immensely.”
Diaghilev assembled an extraordinary creative team for Pulcinella. In addition to
Stravinsky, Diaghilev employed the great dancer, Leonide Massine, to choreograph the
ballet and dance the title role. Pablo Picasso designed the scenery and costumes.
The premiere of Pulcinella took place at the Opéra on May 15, 1920. Ernst Ansermet
conducted the performance, which, according to Stravinsky, “ended in a real success.” A
few years later, Stravinsky created a Pulcinella concert suite, featuring music from the
ballet. The premiere of the Suite from Pulcinella took place on December 22, 1922, with
Pierre Monteux (who also led the first performances of Pétrouchka and The Rite of
Spring) conducting the Boston Symphony.
Stravinsky’s Pulcinella—both in its complete ballet and concert suite form—continues to
engage audiences with its lyric charm, infectious energy, and piquant orchestral
sonorities. Subsequent discoveries that much of the music attributed to Pergolesi was
actually written by other composers have, of course, done nothing to diminish
Stravinsky’s achievement.
Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite comprises eight brief movements:
I. Sinfonia (Ouverture). Allegro moderato
II. Serenata. Larghetto
III. (a) Scherzino, (b) Allegro, (c) Andantino
IV. Tarantella
V. Toccata. Allegro
VI. Gavotta; Allegro moderato (Variazione Ia: Allegretto, Variazione IIa: Allegro più
tosto moderato)
VII. Vivo
VIII. (a) Minuetto. Molto moderato, (b) Finale. Allegro assai
The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet,
trombone and strings.
Duration: ca. 21 minutes
Concerto No. 1 in C Major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 15 (1798)
Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and
died in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827.
The first performance of this work by the Charlotte Symphony took place on
November 21, 1960 with Henry Janiec conducting at Ovens Auditorium. The fifth
and most recent performance set took place on March 6 & 7, 1998 with Peter
McCoppin conducting in the Belk Theater of the Blumenthal Performing Arts
Center.
It was as a pianist that Ludwig van Beethoven first ascended to prominence in Viennese
musical circles. Audiences accustomed to the elegant and refined brilliance of such
virtuosos as Mozart and Muzio Clementi were stunned by the elemental force of
Beethoven’s attacks upon the delicate fortepianos of the day.
Of course, Beethoven’s keyboard artistry consisted of far more than displays of brute
strength. Pianist and composer Carl Czerny recalled that audience members were
reduced to tears by the sheer eloquence of Beethoven’s improvisational powers, “for
apart from the beauty and originality of his ideas, and his ingenious manner of expressing
them, there was something magical about his playing.”
The work known as Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, Opus 15, was actually the second
in order of composition (if one excludes the youthful E-flat Concert pour le Clavecin ou
Fortepiano, circa 1784). While the C-Major Concerto was completed in 1798, the B-flat
Concerto, Opus 19, now known as the Second, was finished in 1795. However,
Beethoven revised the B-flat Concerto and withheld submitting the work to his publisher
until 1801, remarking, “I do not give it as one of my best.” By that time, the C-major
Piano Concerto had already been published as Beethoven’s First. The C-Major Concerto
probably received its premiere at a 1798 concert in Prague, with the composer as soloist.
Beethoven’s C-Major Piano Concerto bears comparison with his First Symphony (1800),
in that both appear in form and content to be descendents of the Classical-era works of
Mozart and Haydn. However, the bold rhythmic profile, adventurous harmonic
modulations, and sharp dynamic contrasts of these early Beethoven works foreshadow
the revolutionary figure soon to emerge in such works as the “Eroica” Symphony (1803).
The Concerto No. 1 is in three movements. The first (Allegro con brio) opens with the
traditional orchestral introduction of the principal thematic material. When the soloist
finally enters, he first appears to be introducing new material. Soon, however, it becomes
apparent that the pianist is restating in somewhat improvisational fashion the themes
already introduced by the orchestra. The slow second movement (Largo) recalls the
pianist who moved audiences to tears through the beauty of his playing. The Rondo
finale (Allegro scherzando) opens with the introduction of the playful central theme. The
initial high spirits are maintained throughout, as the pianist and orchestra offer
contrasting sections in spirited dialogue. Toward the Rondo’s conclusion, Beethoven
provides two brief cadenzas. In the final measures, the orchestra at first seems puzzled as
to its next step, but then dashes headlong to the finish.
In addition to the solo piano, the score calls for flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.
Duration: ca. 36 minutes
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92 (1812)
Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and
died in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827. The first performance of the Seventh
Symphony took place in the Hall of the University of Vienna on December 8, 1813,
with the composer conducting.
The first performance of this work by the Charlotte Symphony took place on
February 8, 1935 with Guillermo S. de Roxlo conducting at Alexander Graham
Middle School. The eleventh and most recent performance set of this work took
place on November 5 & 6, 2010 with Christopher Warren-Green conducting in the
Belk Theater of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.
Ludwig van Beethoven completed his Seventh Symphony in 1812. The work received its
premiere on December 8, 1813, at the grand Hall of the University of Vienna, as part of a
concert for the benefit of wounded Austrian and Bavarian soldiers. Beethoven served as
conductor.
Because of Beethoven’s participation in the concert and its philanthropic mission, several
of Vienna’s most eminent musicians agreed to play in the orchestra. The concert proved
to be one of the great public triumphs of the composer’s career. The audience insisted
upon an encore of the Seventh Symphony’s Allegretto. By popular demand, the entire
concert was repeated four days later, raising another 4,000 florins for the wounded
soldiers.
Still, Beethoven’s reliance in the Seventh upon the briefest of rhythmic motifs—often
presented with relentless, and even frightening energy—inspired some negative reactions.
Musician Friederich Wieck, father of Clara Wieck Schumann, attended the first rehearsal
of the Beethoven Seventh. Wieck recalled that the general consensus among musicians
and laymen alike was that Beethoven must have composed the Symphony, particularly its
outer movements, in a drunken state (“trukenen Zustande”). Carl Maria von Weber, after
hearing the Symphony for the first time, was reported to have exclaimed that Beethoven
was now “quite ripe for the madhouse.”
On the other hand, Richard Wagner, in one of the most famous appreciations of a
Beethoven Symphony, celebrated the finale as the “apotheosis of the dance.” Two
centuries after the premiere, Beethoven’s Seventh continues to amaze audiences with its
dramatic fire. It remains one of the most powerful of all symphonic creations.
The Beethoven Seventh is in four movements. The first begins with the most ambitious
slow introduction (Poco sostenuto) of any Beethoven Symphony. The flute offers
premonitions of what develops into the central theme of the ensuing Vivace, a sprightly
dance in 6/8 time. The theme’s dotted eighth/sixteenth/eighth-note nucleus provides the
foundation for virtually all that ensues in this remarkable movement. The slow second
movement (Allegretto), in the character of a somber march, opens and closes with a
foreboding chord. By contrast, the vibrant third-movement scherzo (Presto) exhibits
both extraordinary energy and power. The finale (Allegro con brio) is a miraculous
combination of academic structure (sonata form) and Dionysian abandon. It is not until
the terse final measures that the whirlwind of activity comes to a stunning halt.
The scores calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two
trumpets, timpani, and strings.
Duration: ca. 36 minutes